


Be My Distraction

by noplainTigerLily



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Ba Sing Se, F/M, Genderbending, Other, girl!Zuko, set during season 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-04
Updated: 2014-06-23
Packaged: 2017-12-22 09:52:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/911836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noplainTigerLily/pseuds/noplainTigerLily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During his walk around Ba Sing Se Sokka spots Zuka, princess of the Fire Nation. Now what should he do? Run home and tell the others, or kiss her? Wait! KISS her? Where did that thought come from?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Kissing the Enemy

Sokka was strolling around. He hated to admit it, but Toph had been right. This city had quickly become boring. He’d already visited all the stores that interested him and with the Dai Lee constantly following them other pastime activities were limited. Sure, last night had been fun. Those girls at the poetry club had been nice, well, except that one who had constantly tried to make him screw up his haikus. By the time he did screw up he’d been thrown out and told to not come back.

  
It wasn’t like there were millions of those clubs in Ba Sing Se, so the tan boy had to go looking for some other kind of entertainment. He’d thought about looking for a date, but had soon realized that all those upper-class girls were way too stiff for him and that he had no idea where to look for girls in the middle and lower ring.

Yesterday Aang had been all excited about this zoo he had helped to move. At first it had been in the lower ring and now it was somewhere between the outer and inner wall. Sokka had decided that he could go there. It would at least give him something to do if nothing else. So here he was, walking to the inner wall so he could go visit a zoo. On his own. He’d asked the others to come with him, but Katara and Toph were apparently going to some spa for some girl bonding or something. Aang had said that he didn’t feel like going since he’d just gone yesterday.

  
Sokka had had to wait for what felt like hours until he was first in line for the ticket booth and could pay for a ticket. When he finally entered the zoo he looked around and had to admit that Aang had done a pretty good job. All the animals seemed pretty happy to have large new stays with plenty of fresh air. If what Aang had told about the small cages was true, this was a huge improvement.

  
Most of the other visitors were parents with children, which made Sokka feel somewhat out of place. Then he spotted two teenage girls leaning against one of the animal stays. They were kind of cute. One had light brown hair that was pulled in a ponytail, the other girl had dark brown hair that reached just below her shoulders. He could see that the girl with the ponytail was talking enthusiastically to her friend. Said friend had her head turned away from Sokka, so he couldn’t tell if she was talking back to Ponytail Girl. The tan boy inched closer to them until he could hear what they were talking about.

  
“So, Li, where did you live before you came to Ba Sing Se?” asked Ponytail Girl.

  
It took a few seconds before the other girl, whose name was apparently Li, answered. “Uhh… I was traveling with my uncle.” Somehow her voice sounded familiar to Sokka.

  
“How come?” Ponytail Girl wanted to know.

  
“We, uhh, were in a traveling circus.” Li didn’t seem all that sure of herself when she said that, but Ponytail Girl didn’t seem to notice that.

  
“So… What was your act?” It seemed like all Ponytail Girl could do was ask questions.

  
It looked like Li really had to think about what she had done in the circus before she could answer. “I was a juggler?” It sounded more like question than an actual answer but Ponytail Girl didn’t seem to notice.

  
“You see that guy over there with the blue clothes? He’s been looking at us for some time now.” Ponytail Girl said, changing to topic of their conversation. “I think he likes us, or at least one of us.”

  
Li turned her head in his direction and only then Sokka realized that Ponytail Girl had been talking about him and a blush spread over his face.

  
As soon as Sokka saw the scar on the girls left eye time seemed to be frozen. The name of the girl in front of him wasn’t Li, and she sure as hell hadn’t been in a traveling circus with her uncle. Now what should he do? Run straight the apartment in the upper ring and tell the others that the Fire Nation had infiltrated Ba Sing Se? Or should he move closer and kiss the girl? Wait! Sokka’s train of thoughts was pulled to a stop. What was he thinking? Kiss her? Kiss her!? Where the fuck did that thought come from? That girl was the Fire Nation’s Princess! He shouldn’t go thinking about kissing the enemy. Even though they were really good-looking… Stop it! Sokka told his brain.

  
“What’s he doing here?” hissed Princess Zuka as she glared at the Watertribe boy. For said boy time started ticking again. He could feel a blush spread over his cheeks as he realized what he’d just been thinking, and hoped that his brown skin color would hide that damn blush.

  
“Do you know him, Li?” asked Ponytail Girl.

  
Zuka muttered something which sounded like ‘sorta’ and a couple of swear words. Then the princess calmed somewhat. “I’ll be right back, Jin.”

  
So now Sokka knew Ponytail Girl actually had a name, but he also had a new problem. A big problem. There was a Fire Nation princess coming his way. And an angry one at that. When Zuka was within reach she grabbed Sokka’s arm and pulled him away before he could start protesting. She kept walking until they were away from the animal stays and were out of hearing range so no one would hear them talk. Sokka’s back was facing the inner wall and the Fire Princess stood in front of him.

“What are you doing here?” demanded Zuka.

  
“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” demanded Sokka right back. “Last time I checked this was the last city in the Earth Kingdom where everyone was safe. The last Earth Kingdom city that was firebender-free.”

  
“You think I’m here to conquer this city or something?” The princess was glaring even more now. “Besides, what would I be doing in a zoo of all places, if I wanted to conquer a city?”

  
“So… you’re not trying to conquer Ba Sing Se?” asked Sokka, sounding rather dumb.

  
Zuka on the other hand felt like facepalming. “No, I’m not.” She let out an irritated sigh.

  
The tan boy looked suspiciously at the seemingly calmer firebender. “Then, what are you doing here?” he asked eventually.

  
The princess’s glare disappeared and her gaze moved to ground. “Haven’t you seen the wanted posters?” The princess’s voice was soft and sounded kind of… Sokka didn’t know if he could trust his ears, but the girl in front of him, the very same girl that had chased them around the globe since they had first found Aang, sounded vulnerable.

  
“Wanted posters?” Sokka couldn’t help but give in to his curiosity, even though he knew Zuka probably wouldn’t want to talk about.

  
The pale girl let out a soft sigh and walked passed Sokka to the wall. Sokka turned around to see her slump to the ground. The girl’s back was now resting against the wall while she hugged her knees against her chest. She looked conflicted. Sokka’s heart went out to her. He crossed the few feet that separated them and sat down in front of her. He just wanted to tell the girl that she didn’t have to say anything if she didn’t want to when she started talking.

  
“They state I’m no longer just an exile, but a traitor.” Her voice was just the tiniest bit broken. “That I’m to be captured and delivered to the Fire Lord when anyone sees me. Also that if anyone tries to help me or just lets me go, they’ll be declared traitors themselves.”

  
Sokka could only look at the girl in front of him. The princess was shaking just slightly. Unshed tears had formed in her right eye, which she blinked with repeatedly so they wouldn’t fall down her face. He didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t even known she’d been an exile to begin with. Actually, he didn’t really know anything about her. For some reason they had never tried to get any information on any of their enemies.

  
Zuka had calmed down by now, or at least she didn’t feel like crying anymore. Her hand went to her eye and quickly rubbed the tears away. “So, what are you doing here?” Her voice was steady again and Sokka found himself thinking that he actually liked her voice when she wasn’t yelling. “Are the others of your group her, too?”

  
“They’re here, too.” Sokka nodded, but then he hesitated. Should he go any further? Should he have even told Zuka that the boy she’d been chasing was in the very same city as she was? The Watertribe boy looked at her face but could only see curiosity and tiredness on her features. “We lost Appa.” said Sokka eventually. The pale girl looked confused. “The bison.” was Sokka’s explanation. After an understanding nod from the princess Sokka continued. “He was stolen by sandbenders in the Si Wong desert. They told us they sold him to merchants and that by now he should probably be here in Ba Sing Se.”

  
“Is that why you’re in a zoo?” asked Zuka with her eyebrows raised slightly.

  
Sokka blushed, even though he didn’t really know why. “No.” he muttered. “I guess I was just bored.”

  
“I think I should get back to Jin.” Zuka said suddenly. “She’s been waiting for a while now and the longer I’ll let her wait, the more she’ll have to ask about.” Zuka stood up and dusted off her clothes.

  
“Wait!” Sokka stood up quickly. “Wh-where do you live?” he blurted out bluntly.

  
Zuka’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you wanna know? So you can check I’m not plotting anything?” She sounded offended.

  
“No.” Sokka held his hands in the air. “I just thought that…” Sokka trailed of and looked at Zuka, she wasn’t glaring anymore. “That maybe we could do an activity together?” Sokka’s voice was higher than usual and sounded uncertain. Wait… did he just ask her out on a date? What was his mind thinking?

  
“An activity?” snorted Zuka.

  
Some weird part inside of Sokka really liked that sound. And that same part of him made him lean forward and press his lips against the princess’s. The teenage boy closed his eyes, put his hands in the girls hair and started moving his lips against hers. Zuka’s eyes widened in shock at being kissed. Her hands moved to the boys shoulder to push him away, but instead of doing so she closed her eyes and hesitantly started kissing back. If anyone who knew both of them would see them right now, it probably wouldn’t end pretty, but neither of them was currently thinking about that possibility.

  
After a while the two teens broke apart for air. They were both breathing heavily while trying to catch their breath. Sokka’s bleu eyes stared in Zuka’s golden ones, which were staring right back. Eventually Zuka broke the silence. “That was… nice.” A light blush spread across her face along with a small smile.

  
Sokka’s heart skipped a beat. The princess had a very pretty smile. No, skip that. She had a very beautiful smile. “So what do you say?”

  
“I work in a tea shop in the lower ring.” Sokka found it hard to believe that a princess was working in a tea shop, but didn’t say anything and let the girl continue. “It’s called Pao’s Family Tea House. Just drop by, if you still feel like ‘doing an activity’ with me that is.” She looked past Sokka back to where the zoo was. For a second she looked doubtful before she turned her head back to look at Sokka “I should go back to Jin. Bye.” With that she started to walk away.

  
Sokka grabbed her arm loosely. “See you around.” he said with a smile. As he got another small smile out of the girl he let her arm go and watched her walk away.

  
The tan-skinned teen slowly followed her. He should be heading to the apartment since Toph and Katara would probably be done with their day of girl bonding by now. As he made his way over to the exit he passed Zuka and Jin. The pale girl was blushing slightly and he could hear Jin ask her: “Is he your boyfriend or something?” That only made the pale girl blush even more. Sokka couldn’t hear her muttered answer anymore as he walked away, happy with his decision to go to the zoo.


	2. Doubting

The new waitress in Pao’s teashop stalked over to some new costumers, clenching her pad en pen in hand as weapons. “What do you want, Jet?” the girl hissed at one of the three teens sitting at the table.

“Come on, Li,” Jet smirked. “aren’t you happy to see me?” The Freedom Fighter’s voice was playful and had it been any other girl standing in front of him, he’d already have her in his lap. Instead Li just glared at him.

“Oh, I’m just delighted.” was the short-tempered girls snappy reply.

Jet’s face fell, normally he could at least say more than one sentence before Li would snap at him. Smellerbee quickly ordered something for the three of them, preventing Jet from saying anything that would make it worse. “We’ll have one pot of jasmine tea, Li.” The pale girl scribbled something on her pad and made her way to the kitchen.

**xXx**

Zuka really wasn’t in the mood for Jet. As if constantly having yesterday’s incident with Sokka on her mind wasn’t enough. Why did suddenly all boys her age need to take an interest in her? And then especially that Watertribe peasant and the so called Freedom Fighter. The latter just annoyed the hell out of her. At first, oh how she hated to have to admit that, the Princess had kind of liked the attention the Earth Kingdom boy gave her. She had never really had any boys after her, especially not since she’d been banished. However, her opinion quickly changed. Jet was rather annoying, and he just had to follow her everywhere. There didn’t pass a single day in which the boy wouldn’t show up several times.

Now Sokka’s interest in her just confused the Princess. How did he even dare kiss her? He was a peasant from the Watertribe and she a Fire Nation Princess. Except… she wasn’t really one anymore, now was she? Her expression turned slightly thoughtful, but she still looked pretty irritated as she entered the teashop’s kitchen.

“What’s on your mind, niece?” asked Uncle, who was in the kitchen brewing tea. He knew his niece well enough to know that something was bothering her.

At hearing Uncle’s voice Zuka’s glare completely disappeared. “Nothing.” she answered. “Just thinking… ‘bout stuff.” Then she tore the piece of paper on which she’d written Smellerbee’s order out of her pad and gave it to her uncle. “Table six ordered a pot of jasmine tea. Could I maybe-” Zuka stopped talking, not sure if she should ask.

“Could you maybe what?” asked Iroh.

Zuka didn’t immediately answer, but after a short moment of silence she asked: “Could I maybe take a break? I know it’s kind of busy and that you’d have to handle it on your own, but I won’t take long.”

Iroh took a tray and placed two cups on it, then he started talking while pouring tea in the cups. “Just make sure you get back to work before Pao gets beck. I’m sure I can handle things on my own.’’ He picked up the tray and walked towards the door that led to the shop. “And else I’ll call you.”

“Thanks, Uncle.” Zuka said as Iroh walked through the door. The girl took off her apron and hung it next to the door Uncle had just gone through. She walked to the other door in the small kitchen, opened it and stepped outside.

Once outside, Zuka leaned against the wall of the tea shop. It felt warm against her back, for the warming spring-sun had been shining on it for the whole afternoon. She closed her eyes and let the spring breeze caress her face. After letting out a deep sigh the girl opened her eyes again. Why couldn’t she just stop thinking about that Watertribe peasant? Why did she even tell him where she worked? It only gave her more things to worry about. Sokka could have gone straight to the authorities to tell them that the Fire Nation had infiltrated Ba Sing Se after he had left the zoo. The Dai Li could come looking for them any moment.

But… the dark-skinned boy _had_ been kind of nice to her. Especially when you looked at the fact that they were enemies. Besides, she had never really wanted him to be her enemy. He just happened to stand in the way in her quest to capture the Avatar. But that didn’t mean Sokka saw it the same way. Maybe she wasn’t the Fire Princess anymore, but she was still the daughter of the man his best friend was trying to defeat. Then why had he kissed her?

The sound of a door opening shook the girl out of her thoughts. She turned her head to the left to look at the backdoor of the tea shop. Uncle stood in the doorway, looking at her.

“There’s someone who would like to talk to you, niece.” Iroh said.

Zuka’s glare returned. “If it’s Jet, just tell him to fuck off.”

“Your language, niece.” Uncle reminding the girl that he didn’t like her swearing made her glare even more in annoyance. However he didn’t seem to notice for he continued talking. “It’s not Jet, he left some minutes ago. However, it is a boy of your age.” It almost sounded as if Uncle was teasing her.

“Then, who is it” asked the pale girl.

“Just go and see for yourself.” was all Uncle said as he went inside again. Zuka followed him to see who was waiting for her.

**xXx**

Sokka looked at the building in front of him. He was hesitant to enter, not because he wasn’t sure if it was the right building, but because he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to see the person who would be inside the building. Or maybe he just wasn’t sure if he _should_ want to see said person. The boy looked at the sign above the entrance again, it read: _‘Pao’s Family Tea House’_. He sighed. Slowly he stepped forward and pushed the door open.

As he walked inside he was met by the sight of a rather small, but cozy looking teashop. On both sides was a row with tables. On the left side sat a girl at one of the tables. She gestured for him to come over. Sokka did as she wanted after recognizing her as the girl who had been with Zuka in the zoo yesterday.

“Hey.” The girl happily said as Sokka sat down across from her.

“Hi.” Sokka said back, sounding just a little bit less awkward than the girl had sounded happy.

“So,” The girl started. “Li never told me your name.”

“Uhm… It’s Sokka.” replied the Watertribe boy after realizing that the girl had meant Zuka with Li.

Sokka tried to remember the girls name for he knew Zuka had said it. Just as he gave up and wanted to ask for her name the girl introduced herself.

“My name’s Jin.” Sokka just nodded, not knowing what to say. “Did you want to talk to Li?”

“Yeah…” This was going easier than Sokka had expected. Well, he hadn’t really expected anything but still.

Jin called out to someone behind the counter in the front of the shop. “Mushi!” Sokka turned his head to look at the person called Mushi and recognized him as Zuka’s uncle.

The man walked towards them. He and Sokka made eye contact and the latter saw that he had been recognized as well. “What is it, Jin?” the man asked.

“Sokka here wanted to talk to Li. Do you know when she’ll be back from her break?” Jin asked ‘Mushi’.

Zuka’s uncle looked at the boy. He slightly narrowed his eyes, something only Sokka seemed to notice out of the two teens. “You want to talk to my niece?”

“Yes.” Sokka said, trying to hide his nervousness, but failing miserably. “Only if that’s alright with you, that is.” After a short pause he quickly added a rather questioning sounding “Sir?”.

“I’ll get her for you, her break’s almost over anyway.” responded ‘Mushi’ and the man walked away.

“So, what’s it between you two?” asked Jin when Zuka’s uncle was away.

“What do you mean?” asked Sokka confusedly.

Jin rolled her eyes. “What I mean is,” she started to explain, “what kind of relationship do you have with Li? Because you sure are more than just friends.”

“How do you know were not ‘just friends’?” Sokka wanted to know.

“Because even though Li denies it, I know you two kissed.” was the girl’s explanation.

Sokka felt his cheeks becoming warm. “W-we’re… not…” Sokka stuttered. “We’re not… like together or anything.”

“Really not?” Jin asked.

“No!” Sokka declared. “We kind of, well, we had a bad start I guess. I mean…” He didn’t really know how to explain said start without giving Zuka’s real identity away and Sokka knew he’d be on fire if he did just that. Luckily he didn’t have to explain because ‘Mushi’ and ‘Li’ came walking towards Sokka and Jin.

“You wanted to talk to me?” Zuka asked as she stood next to the table the Earth Kingdom girl and Watertribe boy were sitting at.

Sokka looked at the pale girl standing in front of him. She was wearing peasant clothing and an apron over it. She looked like a waitress, but at the same time Sokka could still clearly see the Princess inside of her. You could see it in her posture, the way she held her head just a little higher than the other people in the shop. However, most people would just see her as a pretty girl, which she was. She was very pretty. Without Sokka’s notice his heart started beating just a bit faster while he was looking at her.

“Could you stop staring at me?” Zuka asked irritably as she glared at the boy in front of her.

That seemed to snap Sokka out of it. “Of course!” he exclaimed quickly. “I mean, yes. Yes, I wanted to talk to you.” Zuka just looked at Sokka and waited for him to continue. “I was wondering if you still wanted to uhm…” He was at a loss of words. How did he ask her to go out with him without sounding like a fool?

“Do an activity together?” guessed the Princess, repeating what he’d asked her in the zoo.

“Yeah, that.” Sokka said. Why did he keep making a fool of himself when asking princesses on a date?

Zuka’s look told Sokka that she was about to decline, but her uncle answered for her. “Of course! She would love to.”

“She’ll be outside the teashop at sundown.” Jin added.

“Alright.” Sokka said. Maybe Zuka hadn’t agreed to go on a date with him herself, but she was still going on a date with him. At least Sokka assumed she was since she hadn’t protested. “I’ll see you at sundown.”

“See you then.” Zuka said.


	3. It's a date...?

Uncle turned to look at the pale girl next to him. “So what story is there behind _Sokka_ asking you out on a date?”

Zuka recognized the look in her uncle’s eyes, and she wasn’t happy seeing it. Really, she wasn’t happy with him at all at the moment actually. “Why did you agree to it anyway? Don’t you think _I_ should have something to say about it? I don’t even want to go on a date with _him_!” Zuka realized too late that she’d emphasized the word ‘him’ in her last sentence.

“Then with whom _do_ you want to go on a date?” Jin asked.

“No one.” Zuka quickly said, quite snappily. “I just… why would _he_ ask _me_ on a date at all?” Her words were softer now, and she sounded confused, which she was. “He doesn’t even like me! I didn’t do anything that could possibly make him like me!” The girl didn’t really realize she was still speaking out loud. “Quite the contrary, actually.”

Jin looked at Zuka with a compassionate smile on her face. “C’mon, I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

The Fire Princess knew Jin meant to reassure her, but she couldn’t help but frown at the words. Because really? It kind of was _that_ bad. She’d chased Sokka all over the globe in order to capture his friend. However she couldn’t go tell the Earth Kingdom girl that, so she just took a deep breath and couldn’t quite manage to fake a smile at the other girl.

**xXx**

It was a little past sundown and Sokka was waiting in front of the teashop. It was already closed and the curtains were drawn closed. Voices could be heard from inside, though, but the Watertribe boy couldn’t make out what was being said. He was ready to knock on the door when he heard one of the persons inside raise their voice.

“No, I don’t want you to do my hair!” The voice sounded a lot like Zuka’s. “Besides it’s already past sundown, he’s probably already waiting outside!”

Sokka heard someone else say something but it was too soft again to make out the words. Then the curtain that hung before the window in the door was pulled away to reveal Jin’s face. When the Earth Kingdom girl saw Sokka she smiled at him and gave a quick wave before the curtain hid her from view again. A couple of seconds later the door opened.

Zuka stood in the doorway looking slightly uncomfortable. Jin and the Princess’s uncle pushed her out while telling her to have a good evening and to actually have some fun. They then quickly closed the door behind her, shutting her outside with Sokka.

“Hey.” Sokka smiled at her.

One corner of the pale girl’s lips quirked, giving Sokka a half smile. “Hello.”

Sokka studied the girl in front of him. Her hair was loose, just as it had been in the zoo, instead of in a ponytail like a couple of hours ago when she’d been in the teashop. Instead of the apron and regular peasant clothing she’d been wearing then she wore a dress. He realized this was the first time he’d seen the princess in anything that even resembled a dress. The dress hugged her figure unlike the rather baggy clothes she’d worn that afternoon back at the zoo. The dark skinned boy quickly lifted his gaze from her curves, hoping that the Princess didn’t notice that he’d been looking at them just a bit longer than just a normal quick look-over. He let his gaze rest on her face instead.

“You look really nice.” He complimented her.

A soft blush appeared on Zuka’s cheeks. “Thanks.” She muttered. “You…,” She looked him over, searching for something to say. “look the same?” she said eventually.

Sokka chuckled a little. Really it was true, he was still wearing the same clothes as he had that afternoon and hadn’t changed his hair. Besides, the princess looked pretty, dare he say it, adorable while saying it. A word he never thought he would associate with the princess of the Fire Nation. They fell into a silence after that. It wasn’t a nice comfortable silence, really it was getting more awkward the longer it lasted. Both didn’t really know what to tell the other.

“So, I was thinking that, maybe we could go get something to eat?” Sokka eventually asked to break the silence. “If you haven’t eaten yet, that is.”

“I haven’t.” Zuka answered.

“Alright.” Sokka’s heart seemed to be beating faster with every second that passed. “So I heard about this restaurant in the middle ring that’s supposed to have really good food.”

The girl in front of Sokka looked at the ground before mumbling: “I don’t know if I can afford that.”

Sokka could hear in her voice that she hadn’t wanted to have to admit that, so he quickly started talking again. “No, that’s no problem! These guys – I don’t even know who they are… But really that doesn’t matter ’cause they’ve been paying for everything we do here in Ba Sing Se. So it really doesn’t matter where we go. I was even thinking about taking you to the upper ring since you’re a princess and everything and I thought you might miss like formal stuff or something.” Sokka knew he was babbling, but he couldn’t seem to stop. “But then I thought about that you might not have the right clothes for such a thing, at least I don’t. Besides I don’t even have the right manners. So then I thought: Why not go to the middle ring?”

“Then let’s go to that restaurant you were talking about.” Zuka interrupted him, probably just to get him to stop talking.

“Sure, this way.” Sokka smiled at the girl and quirked his head to the direction they should go.

**xXx**

“Sokka?!” Zuka heard someone calling out in surprise. She turned around to see who was calling the boy next to her and by seeing who it was a glare instantly appeared on her face. The girl so wasn’t in the mood for _him_. “Who’s you’re-” The guy started to ask flirtatiously as he looked over to Zuka. “Li?”

“Jet.” She all but growled in greeting, making it clear that she didn’t like him being there.

“Wow, I almost didn’t recognize you in that dress.” The Earth Kingdom boy didn’t seem to get the message as he kept talking in a charming voice.

Zuka glared at him. “What’s wrong with the dress?” she asked defensively.

“Nothing,” Jet held up his hands. “It suits you really well. Just makes it even more obvious how beautiful you are.”

The girl’s pale cheeks turned a light shade of pink, but her intensified glare spoke louder. “How many times do I have to tell you to stop that!?” she snapped at the Freedom Fighter.

Jet raised his hands. “C’mon, I’m just stating a fact.” Jet said in a flirtatious tone with his trademark smirk on his face.

Zuka was really pissed off now. Just as she wanted to yell some more at the jerk Sokka began speaking. “Could you quit flirting with my date, Jet?”

“You’re on a date with Li?” Jet asked. “Well, you’re a lucky guy, Sokka.”

The Fire Princess grabbed the apparently lucky guy’s hand. “Let’s just go, Sokka.” She started walking away – alright, maybe it was closer to stomping – and ignored Jet when he called out an ‘see you later, Li’.

After Zuka thought there was enough distance separating them from Jet she started walking normally again. Why couldn’t the jerk leave her alone?!

“So I’m guessing you and Jet don’t get along too well, huh?” Sokka said.

Upon looking at the Watertribe boy Zuka realized she was still holding the boy’s hand. She quickly dropped it before replying. “Well at least _I_ can’t get along with him. Which is something he doesn’t seem to understand.” The Princess huffed.

“How’d you guys meet, anyway?” Sokka asked.

“We met on this ferry to Ba Sing Se.” Zuka explained. “I helped him and his friends ‘liberate’ some food. We split what we had among all the refugees on the boat. When we were eating our own share he started talking about why he was going to Ba Sing Se. He said that he’d done some really bad stuff and that he was looking for a second chance, that he wanted to start over. Then not much later when I was alone at the front of the deck he came to me. And because he could see that we were the same, that we’d both been hurt by the Fire Nation, the guy thought he could just force himself upon me.”

“He didn’t do anything bad to you, did he?” Sokka wanted to know, a thrown had made its way on his face.

“I punched him before he could. Right in his face.” A small smirk made its way on the Princess’s face. “He brought his hand to his face and just stood there, looking rather dumbfounded at me.” Sokka chuckled at the mental sight of Jet being punched by the girl he tried to get to fall in love with him. Zuka actually started smiling now. “When I saw him walking around later that night he was sporting a bloody nose and some nice purple bruising.”

The two walked on in silence. It was an ‘I don’t have anything else to say to you, but I still want your company’ kind of silence. Zuka hadn’t ever expected that she’d be walking like this, surrounded by high walls made of earth and her shoulders almost brushing against shoulders of boy who was supposed to be her enemy and actually feeling _content_.

The Watertribe boy wondered how the girl next to him would react if he would grab her hand, or maybe put his arm around her shoulders. But instead of doing that he broke the silence between the two. “Wait, did you mean that ferry that sails next to the Serpent’s Pass?”

“Hm… what?” Zuka questioned.

“When you said that you met Jet on the ferry to Ba Sing Se, did you mean the ferry that sails next to the Serpent’s Pass?” he asked again.

“Yeah, what about it?” answered the girl.

Sokka’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as if he were confused. “How’d you get _on_ that ferry.”

The Fire Princess raised one eyebrow as she looked at Sokka. Did the Watertribe boy really not understand how you got on a ferry? “We just stepped on board after buying some tickets.”

“No!” Sokka quickly said. “I mean I get that, I just… How’d you buy those tickets. We had to show them our passports.”

“So…?”

“Well, since you’re the _Fire Princess_ ,” Sokka hushed her title. “I wouldn’t think they’d be so kind to you, let alone sell you a ticket for a ferry that would bring you inside their capital.” Sokka explained.

“Oh that woman at the ticket counter was _way_ too kind to Uncle.” Zuka shuddered slightly as she thought back to it.

“I’m sure that’s not actually a bad thing…?” The Watertribe boy said.

“Believe me, there’s almost nothing worse than seeing old people flirting, especially not when one of them is your uncle.” Zuka really didn’t like it when Uncle started doing such things while in her presence, even more when it was in public.

“But, didn’t they care about you being, you know, Fire Nation royalty?”

“Uncle got us some fake passports from some guys in a flower shop who play Pai Sho.” was Zuka’s explanation. “Just don’t ask.” She said after seeing the look on Sokka’s face. 


	4. Conversations

The banished Crown Princess of the Fire Nation and the son of the Chief of the Southern Watertribe were sitting at a table in a restaurant in the middle ring of the Earth Kingdom’s capital. Fortunately for the two of them, their waiter thought they were just another teenage couple who had been able to get away from their parents for the night. He came walking towards them with a notepad in his hands to take their order. “Have you two been able to make a choice?” he asked the two teenagers as he stood next to their table.

Both teens ordered their food, for Sokka mouse-beef and noodle soup (“Could I get some extra meat in that soup?”) and for Zuka roast chicken and spicy pan-fried noodles. After the waiter had written down their order he left, promising he would bring it to them in short time. The Watertribe boy and Fire Nation Princess both didn’t know what to talk about, which resulted in an awkward silence that spread over their table. Sokka started tapping on the table with his fingers, but that only made the silence more obvious so he quickly stopped. Eventually Zuka broke the silence by trying to start a conversation.

“So,” the girl started. “I guess you like meat?” she asked, after which she quickly added. “You know, because you ordered extra in your noodle soup.”

  
“Yeah,” the Watertribe boy answered with a wide smile on his face, meat was something he could talk about, without it making one. “I can’t imagine going without. Really, I wouldn’t survive if I had to be a vegetarian like Aang.”

When Sokka saw the brows of the girl in front of him being pulled into a frown, he realized his mistake. He knew he shouldn’t mention the avatar, that it would probably get the girl out of her comfort zone. The silence made its way back to their table. Fortunately, their food was soon brought to them.

Their waiter placed the dishes that Sokka and Zuka had ordered on their table along with vegetables and some other extras on small plates that were customary for every meal. The man wished them and enjoyable meal before he left the two teens alone.

“When we arrived in the city we were given a whole tour of it.” Sokka started talking not long after they began eating. “We rode through all three rings in this carriage, so we kinda saw a lot.” The girl across from him didn’t say anything in return but Sokka saw that she was listening to him. “We didn’t see everything of course, just the things that their proud of, I guess. Which means every big and little thing and everything in between in the upper ring and close to nothing in the lower ring.” he joked.

Sokka knew his joke wasn’t even close to his usual ones, but it still got a smile out of Zuka which was really all he had wanted.

“So have you seen anything of the city, yet?” the Watertribe boy asked.

“Not really,” Zuka answered. “just the places in the lower ring that I need to go to, such as the marketplace, but nothing else really.”After a short pause she added: “I did go to the zoo, but you know that.”

“Yeah.” Sokka smiled at the girl. Zuka was kind of sweet, yet also a bit socially awkward. Not at all like what he had imagined her to be like before he talked to her in the zoo. Mostly he had just imagined her to be angry all the time. Alright, she did get angry, but that was mostly just because the people to whom that anger was directed had annoyed her. Luckily for Sokka, he hadn’t got on her nerves yet today. Scratch that ‘yet’, because that would mean that he would still annoy her later in the evening and that wasn’t something he was planning, preferably he would do the opposite.

Zuka’s eyebrows furrowed, as if she were thinking about something. “Jin did tell me about this place in the lower ring.” she said. “She said that we should go there tonight and that it’s really pretty.” Then she quickly added: “Her words, not mine.” She didn’t want him to think that she would use the word ‘pretty’? That was… kind of interesting.

“Sure,” Sokka responded to the girl and gave her a smile. “that would be nice.”

They ate in silence after that until Zuka commented that Sokka had quite a big appetite in her own awkward way. The teenage boy’s response to that was that he loved food. After that they started talking about the food in their own nation. When they talked about the Fire Nation’s food they just referred to it as what Zuka had used to eat back home, just in case anyone in the restaurant was listening to their conversation. The Watertribe mostly got their food from the sea, such as fish and various plants, along with meat from the animals that lived on the ice. A lot of the food was kind of salty. The Fire Nation grew food on farmlands and kept various animals for their meat. Some of the things they used were imported from the Earth Kingdom. In a lot of dishes they used spices, but most of their desserts were actually really sweet.

The Princess told Sokka about fire flakes. They were really spicy and were considered a treat in the Fire Nation. She thought that a lot of people in the Earth Kingdom wouldn’t like them, that they would think the treats were too hot. Sokka told her that he had tried fire flakes once during a festival they had gone to so Aang could study the benders and that he had actually liked them. Zuka gave him a look that told him that she didn’t believe him, so he admitted that he had spit them back out. The girl chuckled quietly, which made Sokka grin.

The rest of the conversation was almost like exchanging recipes. Katara would have been better at telling the Fire Nation girl what kind of ingredients they used for their food in the south, but Sokka couldn’t imagine his sister wanting to sit down with one of the Fire Nation’s Princesses and have a friendly chat with her. Sokka didn’t even know why he was here with his enemy. Except that, it didn’t feel like the girl in front of him was the enemy even though he knew she technically was.

When they had finished their meal the waiter returned to their table. “Was everything as you wished?” he asked. Zuka nodded at him and Sokka told him yes. The man then started to take the plates on the table to the kitchen of the restaurant.

When the man had cleared their table he turned to Sokka. “Would you and your girlfriend like to have a dessert, sir?” he asked.

“I’m not his girlfriend!” Zuka shouted at the waiter. Everyone in the restaurant turned to look at their table and Zuka turned her gaze to the table.

“I’m sorry, miss.” the waiter apologized nervously at the Princess’s outburst.

“Could I get the bill?” Sokka asked with a tone that suggested that nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

The waiter turned to the Watertribe boy. “Of course, sir” he said before quickly leaving the table with the temperamental girl.

“I’m sorry.” Zuka mumbled quietly. She didn’t raise her head but Sokka could see that her eyebrows were pulled together in an annoyed frown.

“It’s alright, I mean you’re not, right?” Sokka said.

**xXx**

“So, did Jin say anything about what kind of place it is that we’re going?” asked the Watertribe boy. He and Zuka were walking in the lower ring to the place Jin had said they should go to.

Zuka shook her head. “No, she just said that it was really pretty and that it would be perfect. Again, those were her words, not mine.” she said. Jin had been going on about it constantly and Zuka was sure that the next time she saw the Earth Kingdom girl she would be asking how it had been and if they had gone to the place she had told her about. The girl had given her directions on how to get there. When Zuka had asked how she would find a place she had never been to and didn’t even know what it looked like Jin had just said that she would know as soon as they were there.

They kept walking until they were standing in a square with a fountain in the middle of it. “I think this is it.” Sokka said.

“You think so?” Zuka asked. She didn’t really see any reason why Jin would send her here.

“Yes. You see? There are little candles all around the fountain that are probably supposed to be lit, only they’re not.” The Watertribe boy commented.

Zuka looked at the fountain and saw that there were indeed candles positioned around the fountain, as well as in little miniature boots that drifted on the surface of the water. She hadn’t noticed them until then because she hadn’t really been paying attention to the fountain. The girl could see now why Jin had sent her here. If the candles were lit, it would look rather… romantic? And no, that thought didn’t make Zuka blush, not at all.

Out of the corner of her eye the Princess saw that Sokka had stepped closer. “You know, I could light them…” Why was she offering to use her firebending? To use her firebending in a city whose police would immediately arrest her if they saw her? And for who? The enemy! But then again, he was kind of nice to her and maybe he would like it. No! She couldn’t use her firebending and risk getting caught simply because some boy would like it. And not just some boy, but her enemy!

“No, don’t.” Sokka answered, at least he still had some sense in him. “I don’t want you to risk anybody seeing.” He added in a quiet mumble.

The Watertribe boy moved to stand in front of her. She looked into his blue eyes that were looking at her own. She hadn’t realized how blue his eyes were before. They were the color of water from a clear lake. His head moved closer to hers. Would he kiss her? Should she kiss him? Of course, she shouldn’t! But… She knew that Jin and Uncle would tell her to do so, or maybe even encourage her to do something more than just kissing. And that thought absolutely didn’t make her cheeks turn red. Wait, Uncle! “I have something for you!” Zuka said as she shoved a paper card in the boy’s face. “It’s a coupon for a free cup of tea.” she explained. She saw Sokka’s face turn into a look of disappointment from whatever it had been before that. “It was Uncle’s idea. Probably just to make sure that you’d come back in case I’d scare you off.” But she hadn’t scared him off, had she?

Sokka took the coupon from her. “Thanks.” He smiled before his face softened and took on the same look it had had when they had been looking into each others eyes. Zuka knew that she was probably supposed to say something now, or do something, but she had no clue as to what. Before she could think any further she felt something on her lips. Not just something, but Sokka’s lips. Her heartbeat didn’t react to that, it didn’t! And, why couldn’t she just get control over the color of her own face?! Sokka pulled back before she could respond.

The kiss was a lot shorter than their first one, but it was still nice. The Princess didn’t know why, but she leaned for forward and this time she kissed him. She felt him kissing her back. Sokka slowly put his arm around her and pulled her closer. Even though she shouldn’t, Zuka felt comfortable in the boys presence. Comfortable and something else that she couldn’t place. The last time she had even felt something close to this had been with Mai. But the last time she had seen the somewhat gloomy girl – although she hadn’t ever really been gloomy in Zuka’s presence – had been a long time ago. Zuka didn’t even know where the other girl was right know, the last thing she had heard about her was that her father had become the governor of Omashu, but she didn’t know if the girl had come with her father or had stayed in the Fire Nation. Wait, why was she even thinking about a girl while she was kissing a guy? She frowned and pulled away from Sokka. He still had his arms around her. She put her hand on his chest just below his shoulders and pushed him away. Then she turned around and ran.

**xXx**

Sokka felt Zuka pulling away. He opened his eyes and was met with a confused look on the girl’s face. She put her hands just below his shoulders. The next thing Sokka knew was that he was being pushed backwards and now it was his turn to be confused. Had he done something wrong? Zuka turned around and started to run. At least, she tried to run. Sokka quickly grabbed her arm and held her in place.

“What’s wrong?” asked the boy.

Zuka didn’t turn around. “It’s complicated.” she merely stated.

“Then explain it to me.” Sokka wasn’t going to let her of easy.

The Fire Nation girl turned around and looked at Sokka. Her eyes were just slightly narrowed and Sokka couldn’t tell what she was thinking. She turned her gaze to his left and looked past him, then she walked past him. The dark skinned boy looked behind him and saw that Zuka had seated herself on the edge of the fountain. He moved and sat next to her.

“I can’t do this.” Zuka said.

“Can’t do what?” Sokka asked.

The princess lifted her hand and waved it in the space between them. “This. You. Me.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“We’re not supposed to be like this.” The girl’s voice was higher than normally and sounded awkward, like she had no idea how to explain this. “You’re my enemy, yet we kissed. I don’t even understand how you could like me!”

Well, Sokka didn’t really understand that one either. What he said next was something even he had difficulty believing. “You’re a nice person.”

“Am I?” She clearly didn’t believe him.

“Sure,” Sokka answered. “I mean, you haven’t even shouted at me once since we’ve been in Ba Sing Se!” It was true. He had heard Zuka shout, it had just been directed at other people, such as Jet and their waiter, or Jin and her Uncle, but not at him. He looked her and saw that a small smile had formed on her face. “I’m not asking you to help us and turn against your nation. I’d just like to spend time with you while we’re in Ba Sing Se.” They sat in silence after that for a short while, but it wasn’t an awkward silence. It was more a thinking kind of silence, not that Sokka was thinking about anything, but Zuka probably was. “Do you want me to walk you home?” Sokka asked eventually.

Zuka nodded and both teens stood. They walked to the apartment that belonged to Zuka and her Uncle in silence that was only broken when they arrived.

  
“I liked tonight.” Sokka said. “Sleep well.”

Zuka smiled one of her small smiles in return. “Good night.” She opened the door to the apartment and walked in before closing it again.

The Watertribe boy kept staring at the door until he heard a door closing loudly inside. He turned around and made his way to the apartment in the upper ring. He wore a grin the whole way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year :)


	5. Sokka's Not-Girlfriend

Zuka let the tray she was holding fall on the table in front of her, not paying any mind to the cups on it that might fall off it and break, and made her way over to the entrance of the teashop. She tried not to slam the door as she exited the shop. Once outside she leaned against the wall of the building with a sharp glare on her face. 

So, she should be happy, huh? Happy that her life was about to change again for the umpteenth time? Happy that she would get to play the pretty Earth Kingdom noble girl? Right now when she had been able to – well, maybe not exactly been able to _accept_ the way she was living and she wasn’t exactly _happy_ with it either, but she had definitely been able to cope with it. And now this merchant or noble man, or whatever it was that the man was, had to decide that he could just burst into her life and throw it upside down again. Just like everyone and everything always liked to do.

Just at that moment Zuka saw flyers falling down from Agni knew where. She reached out to one with her hand and caught it. She stared at it and the expression on her face softened, a wondering frown taking the place of the glare. There was an animal portrayed on the flyer. Not just some animal, there was a sky bison printed on the paper in black ink.

Her thoughts immediately turned to a certain dark skinned boy. Sokka had told her that they were in the city because Appa, which had turned out to be the bison's name, had been stolen. Apparently they still hadn't found the animal yet, then, if they were passing around flyers.

The right corner of her lips turned up to form a half smile at the thought of the Watertribe boy, all annoyance at merchants from the upper ring that were way to full of themselves forgotten.

**xXx**

“So, where are we going, again? Because you kind of forgot to mention that.” Toph asked Sokka, as they were walking through the lower ring. “I thought _Aang_ was supposed to spread flyers around in this part of the city and that we didn’t need to put any posters up here.” 

“I just thought, if I’m in the lower ring anyway, I might just as well pay a visit to someone.” Sokka replied.

“So I’m finally going to meet your girlfriend?” the blind earthbender asked teasingly, her voice filled with false enthusiasm. She couldn’t stop the jealousy from filling her body when she thought about the girl Sokka had met in Ba Sing Se, it made her feel annoyed and almost angry with a girl she didn’t even know. However, she couldn’t let Sokka or anyone else notice that, _especially_ not Sokka.

“What do you mean ‘finally’?” Sokka asked. “I’ve only been seeing her for just a couple of days! And she’s not my girlfriend!”

“You sure?”

“Yes!” Sokka quickly said, his voice rising in pitch. Toph could feel his heartbeat change in a way that told her that Sokka might not actually be all that sure. “And please, don’t call her my girlfriend when Li can hear you as well. She kind of freaked out when the waiter at the restaurant called her my girlfriend, so just don’t, Toph, please.” His voice was filled with agitation but also sounded urging.

“Alright.”

The two continued walking until they stood in front of a small teashop and Sokka told Toph that they were where he had wanted to go. They walked inside and sat down at a table.

“You want to drink some tea?” Sokka asked as he handed Toph something, paper. Paper that presumably had a list of what kinds of tea the shop served written on it. Great.

Just as Toph wanted to point out to Sokka that she did not have any use for a menu, a man started to speak next to their table. “Ah, Sokka, it’s good to see you again.” The earthbender recognized that voice, and, had her legs been long enough for her feet to touch the ground, she was sure she would recognize the heartbeat and body that belonged to the voice if she could detect them with her bending. “If you’re here for my niece, she’s in the backroom.”

“Uh, Toph-” Sokka started, but Toph didn’t let him finish.

“Sure, go catch up with your not-girlfriend, I’ll be alright here.” The girl had some catching up to do herself. Besides, she would probably get her answers easier out of the elder man standing next to their table, assuming he hadn’t walked away, than out of Sokka.

“Great!” She heard Sokka get off the chair he was sitting on and walk away.

**xXx**

Zuka was standing in the backroom and washing dirty teacups. The door to the backroom opened and Zuka moved to it to take the dishes that Uncle had gone to get for her to wash. “You can give-” The girl stopped talking. Uncle wasn’t standing in the doorway. “Sokka!” She couldn’t stop the smile from forming as she called out the boy’s name in bewilderment. 

“Hey,” He said with a grin on his face.

Zuka moved backward so that the Watertribe boy could step inside the room and wouldn’t have to stand in the doorway anymore, only to bump into the table that stood in the middle of the room. To her own embarrassment she let out a tiny shriek in surprise.

Sokka extended his arm out to her, but didn’t immediately move to steady her. Which was good, because she didn’t want him to think that she needed to be steadied, she could stand on her own perfectly well. “Are you-” Zuka stopped him from finishing his question.

“Fine! I’m fine.” She could feel the heat in her cheeks. “So, why are you here?” She asked to move the conversation away from her bumping into the table.

“Toph and I were hanging up posters in the lower ring, and I still have that coupon for a free cup of tea. So, here I am.” Sokka said.

The mention of that coupon made heat rise to her cheeks yet again, as she about when she had given it to him. Why was she constantly blushing around Sokka? She never did that!

Sokka’s eyes wandered away from her face and the expression that came onto his face made it look like he was contemplating something. Then he turned to look at her again and asked, “Can I kiss you?”

Zuka blinked. She hadn’t expected that question. The other times the boy who stood in front of her had kissed her he hadn’t asked her about it. But then, him kissing her now would be different from those other times. This time the kiss would be more of a greeting, whereas the other times it had been more of a – she didn’t really know what they had been, but they hadn’t been greetings. People kissed their girlfriend – or other romantic partner – when greeting her, and she wasn’t Sokka’s girlfriend. She probably would have minded it if the boy had kissed her immediately after he saw her. But now that he had asked her? Would she still mind? “No,” Zuka told him.

“Okay,” Sokka sounded disappointed as he replied. Why would he be disappointed? And why was he just standing there, wasn’t he going to come to her so he could kiss her? She had just told him that she didn’t mind him kissing her. Wait. “No! I mean ‘yes’.” She quickly said. “I mean, ‘no, I don’t mind’.” She paused to take a breath. “Yes, you can kiss me.”

Sokka let out a chuckle. Zuka knew she had just made a fool out of herself. However, a smile quickly replaced Sokka’s chuckling, he stepped forward and placed his palm on her jawline. The girl closed her eyes and felt a pair of lips press against her own. She brought up her hand and placed it on the warriors neck. As Zuka kissed back she heard the door to the backroom fall shut, probably because of the wind that came in through the window. But wait, she had seen Sokka close the door, so that meant… She quickly put her hands to the boys shoulders and pushed him away. The Princess opened her eyes and with Sokka no longer directly in front of her, she could see that she had been right. Someone had come into the room. Uncle. She felt her face heat up.

“Don't mind me,” Uncle said. He made his way over to the sink and started filling a teakettle. “Just continue with what you were doing.” How could they just continue with what they had been doing when Zuka had seen the look on the elder man’s face! That grin had been disturbing! “I’m just making some tea for your friend, Sokka.” The girl saw that her uncle put his hands to the sides of the kettle and knew that he was warming the water with his firebending. Normally she would have scolded him for that, but now she was glad he did it, because that meant that he would be gone sooner.

None of the three said anything as Uncle continued to make his tea. Zuka was staring at the floor. She didn’t know what Sokka was doing. She didn’t know if he was as embarrassed as she was, or if he didn’t mind at all that the Uncle of the girl he had just been kissing had walked in on them doing just that. After some time the oldest of the three broke the silence. “I’m done, so I won’t longer be bothering the two of you.”

The Fire Nation girl sighed as she heard the door close. Finally Uncle had gone back to Sokka’s… Friend. Only then did she realize what it implied what Uncle had said. Sokka’s _friend_ was inside the teashop. The brown skinned boy had brought _him_ with him. “You brought the…” Zuka couldn’t bring herself to actually say his name, or his title or his _whatever_ , aloud. “You took _him_ with you? He’s _here_?!” She knew that she probably looked mortified and that her face must be as white as the snow that covered everything in Sokka’s village, instead of as red as the clothes that she used to wear when she had still lived in the Fire Nation, which her face had still been only seconds ago.

“No!” Sokka exclaimed. He held up his hands and shook his head vehemently. “I didn’t bring Aang! He’s not here.” Zuka forced herself to breath calmly and stared at the Watertribe boy. “I told you, I was hanging up posters with Toph. Toph’s here, not Aang.”

“Toph?” The girl knew her voice sounded small. She felt really stupid now. Of course Sokka hadn’t taken the Avatar along with him. Aside from that, she had overreacted, badly. If she had really only been separated from the Avatar by a stupid wall she should have stayed calm. She shouldn’t have all but yelled at Sokka in despair.

“Yeah, Toph.” Sokka nodded.

“Who’s Toph?” Zuka asked.

“She’s Aang’s earthbending teacher.” Sokka explained. “Sometimes she’s really annoying and immature, like Aang, but then again, they’re the same age, so yeah.” Something told the girl that Sokka could also be really annoying and immature, even though he was older than the Avatar and apparently Toph, but she didn’t say anything about it.

“Is she the little girl who was in the abandoned town when Azula shot my uncle?” Zuka asked, not thinking about how lifelessly Uncle had lain before her after that. The other teenager nodded and hummed in confirmation. “But then she’ll recognize us, won’t she?” she tried to keep the despair out of her voice, but didn’t succeed as well as she wanted to.

“Don’t worry.” Sokka said. “She’s blind, so she won’t be able to recognize your faces. She may have been able to recognize your heartbeats if she had been around you longer and wouldn’t have had to focus on Azula instead of you two.”

The Princess didn’t understand how someone would recognize her _heartbeat_ , but didn’t question Sokka on it. “Alright.”

“So, what’s it like working here?” the Watertribe boy asked. Zuka knew he was probably just trying to change the subject, and honestly? She was glad he did, she didn’t exactly feel like talking about Sokka’s, and therefore also the Avatar’s, friends. “Do you always work in the backroom?”

“No,” the girl answered. “I mostly take the orders from the customers, but Uncle send me here about a half hour ago. He said that he needed me to wash the dishes, but I know that wasn’t the truth.”

“Then, why did he?” Sokka asked.

“I saw these two men walk in.” Zuka explained in an irritated voice. “They were looking at me like I was some kind of animal and they were starving and wanted a piece of my meat.”

Sokka looked amused for only a second before the look was replaced by one of contempt. Good. Because it wasn’t funny. “Does that happen a lot?” asked the boy.

“Not really.” There were some men that came to the teashop and looked at her like that, fortunately none of those were regular customers. A couple of boys her age also sometimes looked at her like that. _Jet_ looked at her like that. Luckily for the freedom fighter he only did it occasionally and would replace it with some other expression within a second. “Uncle usually knows that I can handle myself, though.”

“I bet you can.” Sokka’s tone wasn’t mocking, it was encouraging and he smiled at her, making her believe that he meant it.

They continued talking about the girl’s job for a while. They talked about stupid, annoying customers, her uncle’s obsession with tea and how both her uncle and her boss thought that she should become more cheerful when speaking with customers among other things. Sokka would laugh at things that weren’t funny in the Princess’s mind, and in turn, his laugh would make her smile. When Zuka wouldn’t know what to say anymore, Sokka would ask her about something else, to which she would answer.

After some time Uncle walked into the backroom again. “Li,” The man addressed his niece. “You should go back to work. Pao will be back soon, and I’m not sure if he would be too pleased if he sees you interacting with…” Uncle seemed to be searching for the right word to describe how Pao would see Sokka. Zuka hoped he wouldn’t say boyfriend. “a friend.” The man finished and Zuka almost sighed in relief.

“I should probably get going, anyway.” Sokka said. “Otherwise Katara might start worrying about what’s keeping us.” The boy then turned his head from uncle to niece.  He looked at her with a questioning expression. “Can I…?”

Zuka knew what the boy meant, and even though Uncle was right there she answered “Sure”. Sokka leaned forward and placed a her kiss on her mouth. It was just a peck, really, but the girl thought it was nice anyway. And really? She wouldn’t have wanted him to kiss her any longer with Uncle looking at them. After it the boy walked away and threw a quick “bye” over his shoulder. The Princess looked at her uncle, who still stood next to the door. He was _beaming_ at her. Great. She glared at him, hoping he would stop. He didn’t. He walked back into the main room of the teashop with that stupid smile still on his face. Even greater.

**xXx**

Sokka, Toph and Aang walked to the square in the middle ring where they had agreed to meet with Katara after hanging up all the posters. The former two had met up with the latter while making their way through the middle ring. Sokka didn’t see Katara, so he figured that she wasn’t done with putting up the posters yet. Then, he could hear water splashing against something in an alleyway that was connected to the square.  After that he heard someone yelling in a voice that sounded exactly like his sister, but he couldn’t make out her words.

All three made their way to the alleyway and Sokka saw his sister facing someone whom she had engaged in ice. “Katara, what is it?” Sokka asked his sister.

“Jet’s back.” Katara’s voice was filled with scorn. Sokka looked at the person who she was facing and saw that it was indeed Jet who was stuck to the wall by ice. “We can’t trust anything he says.”

Sokka did want to agree with that, but he knew that they may actually want to at least know what Jet had to say and that afterwards they could decide whether or not they trusted the words. Besides, Sokka had already known that Jet was in Ba Sing Se, and as far as the Watertribe boy knew the other boy hadn’t done anything too bad yet. “But we don’t even know why he’s here!” was what Sokka decided to tell his sister. Zuka had told _him_ that Jet had told _her_ that the Earth Kingdom boy had come to the capital city of his country because he had wanted to start over. Sokka just didn’t know how much of what Jet had told her he could actually believe. Besides, it didn’t explain why Jet had gone looking for his sister.

“I don’t care why he’s here, whatever the reason, it can’t be good.” Katara said.

“I’m here to help you find Appa!” Jet opened his hand and revealed that he was holding a poster with Appa on it.

At the mention of his bison Aang spoke for the first time since they had found Katara with Jet. “Katara, we have to give him a chance.”

“I swear I’ve changed!” Jet’s voice was tinted with a hint of despair. Sokka knew that Jet hadn’t completely changed. At least not when it came to trying to pick up girls, Sokka thought as he remembered Jet flirting with first his sister and then with his… not-girlfriend. “I was a troubled person and I let my anger get out of control, but Smellerbee, Longshot and I even left the gang now! I’ve put it all behind me!.”

“You’re lying!” Katara all but yelled.

Toph walked forward and put her hand next to Jet on the wall. Sokka frowned, not understanding why the young girl did that. “He’s not lying.” she said.

Sokka understood Toph’s words even less. “How can you tell?” The Earthbender didn’t even know Jet, how could she know that he wasn’t lying?

“I can feel his breathing and heartbeat. When people lie, there’s a physical reaction. He’s telling the truth.” Toph said. That did make sense. They decided that they would listen to Jet and give him a chance. Even Katara agreed, if a bit reluctantly.

Later that day what Toph had just told them made Sokka start wondering. If Toph could tell when someone was lying, would she have noticed that Sokka had lied about ‘Li’. Would the small earthbender have realized that ‘Li’ wasn’t actually Zuka’s name and that Zuka wasn’t just some girl he’d met while walking around Ba Sing Se?

**xXx**

When Zuka was undressing that evening before going to bed, the flyer with Appa portrayed on it fell out of the pocket of her tunic. She picked it up and stared at the picture of the bison.

She sometimes went outside at night if she couldn’t sleep and would walk – or sneak, so no one would notice her – around the lower ring to let out some energy. One of those night she had seen a pair of Dai Li agents sitting on one of the brown roofs. She had pressed herself against one of the walls of the building that had been cast in shadow and eavesdropped on what they were saying.  

After a while she had walked away from them again, making sure they didn’t see her as she retreated from her hiding spot. She hadn’t found out much information. The two men had mostly talked about what a waste of time it was that they had to oversee this part of the city, that nothing ever happened here.  Zuka had smirked at that, they had had no idea that they had been eavesdropped on by a teenage girl. They had complained about some of the other agents having much more exiting assignments. The only piece of information that the Princess had gained that could actually be of any use, and the only information that the Dai Li wouldn’t have wanted to get out, was about some giant animal that Long Feng had locked up in their headquarters.

As the Fire Nation girl stared at the flyer she realized that they must have been talking about Appa.  She laid the flyer down on the table next to her bed and continued changing. She just didn’t change into her nighttime clothes, but into a black outfit. She removed the loose floorboards in the corner of the room. She picked up something wrapped in cloth and put the floorboards back in place. The girl sat down on her bed and unwrapped the item. A blue demon grinned up at her.


End file.
